See Rebecca. While there are other great Graham Greene novels that have never been adapted for the screen, Brighton Rock, having not been filmed for 63 years, was ripe for re-adaptation in 2010. Director Rowan Joffe makes some interesting and brave choices too, moving the setting from the prewar 1930s to the mods-vs-rockers 1960s, playing up the romance between Pinkie (Sam Riley) and Rose (Andrea Riseborough) and injecting, in Riley’s own words, “more of Graham Greene’s violence, more religious confusion, and more prominent sexual anxiety”. The Boulting Brothers' 1947 film casts a long shadow, but in the end they’re irrelevant to the result here.

People say they prefer the 'orignal', meaning Gene Wilder's musical 'Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory'. Tim Burton's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' was closer to the book and therefore closer to the 'original' than "the orignal"! (and better for it, in my opinion!) More

Posted by philshepp on Monday June 17, 2013, 17:38

2

"Unknown" Remakes

More interesting would be a list of remakes where the remake is so good that people forget the original and don't know it's a remake. "Silence of the Lambs", "The Bourne Identity", "The postman always ring twice"... are there any more? More

Posted by dansator on Sunday June 16, 2013, 15:42

3

RE: When Is A Remake Not A Remake?

The idea of a remade whitewashed Akira movie needs to stop existing, like altogether More

3 if you count the L spin-off. I thought they were very watchable, esp the first. Bit of diminishing returns after that. More

Posted by elab49 on Friday June 14, 2013, 12:48

8

RE: Er, Akira?

Fair point elab49, agree with the Heat thing as well. Strangely, I would like to see a live action version of Akira, just not an American one. They adapted the Death Note manga series into two movies, but that was just meh. More

Posted by Wicket55 on Friday June 14, 2013, 12:43

9

RE: Er, Akira?

Because several people have worked on trying to make it happen? The piece talks about the work generally and it's a pretty interesting piece because it seems mainly to be talking about the difficulty of reworking - Akira fits in perfectly as the example of one of the, so-far, failures.
In the context of the piece I think Heat is the odd one out. At least Akira opens a genuine discussion because it touches on some of the issues a remake would have. But, again - if 3 teams have had shots at the screenplay and pre-production has been in place at least once, it's not as pie in the sky as 'can never be done', no matter how badly. More

Posted by elab49 on Friday June 14, 2013, 12:25

10

RE: Er, Akira?

Yes, I have read it carefully. With the exception of "Rebecca" on this list, which will be remade at a later date, the Akira live action movie is just never going to happen. So why is it on this list at all? What about Cameron's Battle Angel Alita? Or Another remake (reboot) that doesn't actually exist yet! More

Have no idea why this film is on this list here! Has never been remade at all, and probably never will!
Closest thing to it, would be Scott's Blade Runner sequel! Not to mention the fact that Akira is 100% Japanese! Many of the cultural themes and history would be completely lost in translation adapting this for an American audience! More

Posted by Wicket55 on Thursday June 13, 2013, 19:08

13

Er, Akira?

Have no idea why this film is on this list here! Has never been remade at all, and probably never will!
Closest thing to it, would be Scott's Blade Runner sequel! Not to mention the fact that Akira is 100% Japanese! Many of the cultural themes and history would be completely lost in translation adapting this for an American audience! More

Posted by Wicket55 on Thursday June 13, 2013, 19:02

14

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans?

Surprised that wasn't mentioned, wasn't that great a film but it was related to the 1992 Harvey Keitel film in name only. More

Posted by G MAN on Wednesday June 12, 2013, 02:33

15

I'm surprised...

That you guys didn't discuss Star Trek. Everyone thought it was a remake and Abrams took everyone by surprise More

Posted by Killjoy_Gee on Tuesday June 11, 2013, 17:41

16

When Is A Remake Not A Remake?

Dredd. Better than the Stallone piece of crap...loved the newest version... More